The mother of a 5-year-old boy discovered dead in a suitcase in Indiana has been arrested in California in connection with his death, authorities said.
Authorities said that on April 16, 2022, the small boy’s body was discovered in brightly colored luggage with a Las Vegas motif in a rural part of Washington County, Indiana.
Six months later, the boy was identified as Cairo Jordan, from Atlanta. According to the police, he died at the age of five.
In October 2022, police filed an arrest warrant for Cairo’s mother, Dejaune Anderson, on charges of murder, negligence of a dependent resulting in death, and obstruction of justice.
Earlier this week, an investigator “received information from a concerned citizen… which started the path to physically locate Dejaune Anderson,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Carey Huls said in a news conference Friday.
Anderson was captured Thursday night in Arcadia, California, which is near Los Angeles, according to Huls. He stated that she is being held at an LAPD detention facility.
Huls described Anderson’s arrest as a “huge milestone” in the case.
Dawn Coleman, the second suspect, was arrested in October 2022 for negligence of a dependent that resulted in death and obstruction of justice, according to investigators.
According to The Associated Press, authorities allege that Coleman assisted Cairo’s mother in disposing of the boy’s remains.
Coleman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in November 2023, with five years suspended for probation, according to the Associated Press.
There are no outstanding suspicions, Huls stated on Friday.
Cairo died a week or less before his body was discovered, and an examination revealed that he died as a result of vomiting and diarrhea, which caused dehydration, according to authorities.
Huls lauded the inhabitants of Washington County, saying they banded together to celebrate Cairo.
“I provided him with a funeral, with a headstone,” he went on to say. “There’s still flowers to this day that are placed on his gravesite—people praying for him and his family and that justice would be done.”
